Seasoned Welliver Photography readers would assume that Terry is the author of this post given the title. But this time its me, Beth, writing about watching a bike race. Yes, I was supposed to be racing, but a few weeks back I was recovering from something horribly nasty that decided to live in my throat, nose, head, and anywhere else something gross can live (dare I say thrive?) for the better part of 2 weeks. Icky! So instead of racing the season opener, I went to cheer on my new Bike Station Aptos teammates at the local CCCX mountain bike race at Ft Ord. I had 3 teammates in the race. They did 5 laps. Total race time was about 2 hours. That means I stood along the trail to cheer and snap a few photos 15 times over the course of 2 hours. In other words, I had a lot of free time while waiting for them to come streaking by each time. The experience made me deeply appreciate Terry's dedication and patience while I race my bikes! Below are a few of the images I captured during my "down time".

It was a beautiful day for a race...

I was a little surprised to find a few early season wildflowers (amongst the annual bumper crop of Ft Ord Poison Oak).

And of course weather nerd couldn't help admire some pretty clouds now and again...

This is proof that I really was at a bike race. Go Courtney!

The race was at Ft Ord's old Fam Camp...complete with old playground relics sprinkled here and there.

Actual race photos of people actually racing their bikes can be found here. Note: taking race photos is super hard. I also gained a greater appreciation for Terry as well as all those other phenomenal race photographers we have floating around NorCal. Y'all have serious talent as photographers.

Next weekend I get to go race my mountain bike on those trails. Yeehaw!